


Supernova

by UmbreonGurl



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Magic, Strangers to Lovers, ahri lives in the woods and cant read, gal pals, no beta we die like your inting teammates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26378314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UmbreonGurl/pseuds/UmbreonGurl
Summary: Luxanna Crownguard is a shining example of Demacian nobility until she isn’t. What exactly she’s supposed to do now, she’s still figuring out.
Relationships: Ahri/Luxanna "Lux" Crownguard
Comments: 18
Kudos: 90





	1. Chapter 1

Lux wakes to the morning sun and straw poking at her skin. The pile of hay she’d slept on the night before is not nearly as soft as the bed she used to sleep in every night. She’s itchy and tired and her back is sore, but she can’t afford to stay in this barn much longer—she doesn’t know how the owners will react to having a stranger sleeping in their barn, let alone a _mage._

In her head, she can still hear the calls of the guardsmen echo.

_“No Garen today, Miss Crownguard?”_

_“Miss Crownguard, good morning. Give my regards to your brother.”_

_“Miss Crownguard, be wary, rumours say there’s been a mage reported in the area. Keep your guard up. It wouldn’t do for you to be caught flat-footed.”_

Her hands feel warm. Too warm. Were she to take off her gloves, she’s sure they’d be glowing.

The Crownguard name will get her nothing anymore. With sore feet and scuffed knees, she gets up. There is no room in Demacia for mages, and even less so for traitors. She is both. 

She must keep going. Where to, she does not know, but she must keep going. 

Foot after foot, step after step, she walks.

* * *

It’s not long before Lux sees her face on a wanted poster. Surprisingly, the word “dead” is not at the top of it. (Likely due to Garen’s influence, if she had to guess.)

The drawing they have of her is crude. Her nose is too large, her eyes are too far apart, and she’s long since dropped the armor she’d used to don. Despite the discrepancies, if someone were to look closely enough, the similarities would be obvious. (Even if they were not, the Mageseekers were never ones to ask questions first before they took someone in.)

Changing clothes won’t be enough. She stops at a creek to refill her waterskin and looks at her reflection in the water.

Her cheeks are covered in dirt and sweat, her hair is frizzy and tangled near the ends, and the hood of her cloak has a frayed seam near the top.

She’s sure that her etiquette tutor would have murdered her on the spot had she ever left the house like this. It makes Lux smile a little bit. She’d always hated that old hag. 

She pulls her hood down and gathers her hair in one hand.

_“A noble lady must take excellent care of her hair. It should be long, soft, tangle-free, and silky to the touch.”_

Using her free hand, she grabs a dagger from her hip, and with a few swift cuts, tangles of blond fall to the rocks below.

_“You are not merely nobility, Luxanna. A proper lady of house Crownguard must have all that and more.”_

With a quick glance at the water, Lux can see that the ends of her hair are now jarringly uneven. She cleans it up a bit, using her reflection in the water like a mirror. By the time she finishes, her hair only barely passes her chin. 

Mrs. Woodrow is probably rolling in her grave, but Lux can’t find it within herself to care.

* * *

Ionia is very different from what Lux has always been used to, all trees and mountains instead of towering white marble, and it does not come without its challenges. Leaving Demacia’s borders does not magically make her problems go away, and as many it solves, it creates just as many more.

For one, the Mageseekers (and likely others) are most certainly still looking for her. While Demacia may be more subtle about it, Lux knows for a fact that many of the upper echelons of the Demacian forces respect borders about as much as Noxus does—if not less. 

Just because they didn’t burn crops and raze fields does not mean that they didn’t take their fill from the war. Stores of rare spices were mysteriously acquired, prized Ionian artifacts were so _generously_ donated to Demacian museums, and large amounts of gold from unknown origins often made its way seamlessly into the royal coffers. 

It’s all obvious if one knows where to look. Demacia may coat its war efforts in a prettier coat of paint—in honor and nobility and standing up to Noxian tyranny—but it is no less damaging, and Ionia _knows_ it. 

One peek under her cloak and a few words out of her mouth are enough to get her wary glances and unwanted eyes, especially near the coast. With the hood up, however, she can pass for any traveler— and those, Ionia has plenty of. 

Hiding in plain sight has always been something Lux is good at, but it doesn’t mean she’s safe. No—Ionia is anything _but_ safe, but it is not Demacia. 

For now, that is enough.

* * *

Funds wise, what Lux has will not last for long if she’s not careful. She’d already used a decent amount on even _getting_ to Ionia in the first place, and although the few pieces of jewelry she had stolen from her family’s prized collection were worth a decent amount, cash drains fast when you have no income and no savings to fall back on.

She’s never been so grateful that Garen had always insisted she know how to fend for herself. Saving money is far easier when you can let nature provide for a few of your meals, but she still needs to find something to earn some cash if she wants to be able to afford a roof over her head at night.

Unfortunately, her options for work are limited. Even when discounting the fact that _a) she’s very obviously not Ionian_ , and _b) she’s currently a wanted woman in one of the biggest hotspots for bounty hunting outside of Bilgewater,_ the fact she can’t stay long in any one place _alone_ makes a whole slew of jobs inaccessible. 

She’s a bit lost at first, but ingenuity is born of necessity and Lux learns to make money the same way she gets her dinner— _hunting._

The thick Ionian forest provides no shortage of prey for anyone daring enough to brave the wilderness, but it also comes with its own share of risks.

What you take from nature, it has no hesitation to take back from _you_. Lux quickly learns to watch for signs of the many predators, but here, even the prey animals can be deadly if you’re not careful. 

Despite knowing her way around a weapon, Lux has never been quite as physically gifted as Garen was. It’s one of the reasons why when she’s suddenly rushed by a boar, she instinctively reaches for her mana instead of her knives.

The boar freezes in a circle of light. 

As she approaches, it stares back at her. _I know what you are,_ its gaze says, as if it knows that she doesn’t belong here. She defiantly stares back into its eyes as she raises her knife.

It glows when she brings it down. 

* * *

Lux almost jumps when a voice comes from behind her.

“It’s rather rude to steal someone else’s kill, you know. I was tracking that boar for a while.”

Lux twirls around, grabbing her other knife and raising it up, only to find that _there’s_ _no_ _one there._

“Show yourself,” she orders, as confidently as she can muster. She can barely hear herself over her own heartbeat.

Whoever it is does not care for her threats. 

“Wow. You’re _really_ not from around here, are you?”

Lux keeps her knife at the ready.

“What’s it to you?”

She hears a laugh, cheerful and upbeat. “Just curious is all. It’s rather unusual for me to get visitors this deep in the forest.” 

_That’s the whole reason I came this far in,_ she wants to snap, _to avoid people like you._

“I’m afraid I’m rather reluctant to give my information out without knowing who it’s going to,” says Lux. “For all I know, you could be a Noxian spy.”

“Oh, right.” Something rustles in the bushes. “I forgot you humans are always so suspicious of each other.”

“You humans?” Lux echoes, lips wrapping around the words like she can’t quite believe them. “If you are not human, then what _are_ you?”

Another laugh, and a large white fox hops out of the bush.

“Some people have called me the guardian of this forest,” it says. “Others, the monster in their nightmares.”

In a flash of blue fire, the fox transforms into a woman.

She smiles, lazily letting a small blue flame dance along her fingertips. “But personally, I much prefer just “Ahri.””

* * *

Lux had read of the Vastaya—fantastical tales of people with beastly traits and mythical abilities that ranged far and wide—but she had never expected to ever run into one in person. When in Ionia, though, she supposes one must do as the Ionians do.

All suspicions of Ahri being a Noxian operative are immediately thrown out the window as soon as Lux gets eyes on her—Noxus treats the Vastaya with about as much respect as Demacia gives to its mages. 

However, just because she is not Noxian does not mean she is not dangerous—everything about this woman screams _predator._ She may hide behind a chiming laugh and a pretty face, but the fangs and the claws and the fire make it clear she’s not to be trifled with.

Ahri pouts at Lux’s silence.

“C’mon, aren’t you going to introduce yourself?” she says, tails flicking as she approaches. “I gave you my name, it’s only fair you give me yours in return.”

Lux hesitates, still not dropping the knife from a ready position. She doesn’t know how this woman will react if she doesn’t tell her _something._ Maybe one of the aliases she had been using will be enough. 

“Anna,” she replies. 

“Mmm, no, I don’t think that’s actually your name, is it? You’re not a very good liar.” Ahri shrugs. “It’s hard for most people to fool me though, so now that I think about it, that might actually be more of a _me_ problem than a _you_ problem.” 

Ahri slowly makes her way towards the boar. “Lucky for you, I don’t care that you lied, and I’m willing to so generously share the kill you stole.”

“ _Stole?_ It was _charging_ me,” Lux protests, slowly letting her knife fall back to her side. If Ahri intended her harm, she already would have attacked by now. “What else was I supposed to do other than kill it? Let it maul me?”

“I mean, you could have.” Ahri pulls the knife out of the boar with one hand and throws it aside. “I figured you had a death wish, given you’re all the way out here slinging mana around like some sort of clueless child.”

Lux freezes. _Of course she saw that._

“Ah.” Ahri looks her up and down, before rubbing her chin and giving Lux a pitying look. “I see. You really don’t have any idea what you’re doing, huh.”

Lux moves to protest, but in a flash of supernatural speed Ahri is in front of her, silencing her protests with a motion to hush.

“Shhh… there’s no need to deny the obvious.” Ahri draws her hand away from her face with a teasing smile. “I already know.”

Ahri’s ears twitch and she frowns. “And so does the rest of the forest, it seems.”

In a burst of fire, she’s back at the Boar’s side, picking it up with ease and slinging it over her shoulder.

“Come,” she says, “we need to go.”

“We?” Lux asks. “Who says I’m going anywhere with you?”

“It’s up to you,” Ahri says, turning to leave, “but I’m definitely gonna get out of here. And if you don’t want to get killed by something a lot less nice than I am, _Anna_ , I suggest you follow.”

Against Lux’s better judgement, she does.

* * *

Ahri moves _fast._ Somehow, she doesn’t even seem slowed down in the least by the boar carcass slung over her shoulders. Lux doesn’t consider herself to be out of shape, but by the time she manages to catch up to Ahri, she’s nearly out of breath. 

Lux grabs her waterskin and takes a few sips. She so desperately wants to do nothing more than to just chug the whole thing, but she knows from experience that doing so is a bad idea.

“I can see you decided to make the smart choice,” Ahri says, as she sets down the boar and starts stretching her arms. “For a second there, I thought you weren’t going to follow me.”

“That’s because I wasn’t going to,” Lux admits as she puts her waterskin back, “but I suppose my curiosity won out in the end.”

“Oh. In that case, I’m glad I made sure to go slow so you could catch up.” Ahri grins. 

Lux almost wants to gape. “You mean that was you going _slow?_ ”

“Mhmm.” Ahri takes a seat before bending over and starting to stretch her legs. “We have to get moving again soon, by the way. I only stopped because it looked like if you didn’t get a break soon you were going to fall over. We’ve still got a bit to go.”

Lux takes a seat on the ground, resting her back on a nearby tree. 

“A bit to go until what?” she asks. 

Ahri raises an eyebrow. “A bit to go ‘til we get to my secret lair. What, did you think we were just running off to nowhere?”

“Your _secret lair_ ,” Lux echoes. “Really?”

“Really.” Ahri straightens herself and hops up to her feet again. “Did you expect something else?” 

“No, I just didn’t expect that.” Lux sighs. “I didn’t expect much of any of this, if I’m being honest.”

“You are,” Ahri cuts in.

Lux furrows her eyebrows. “Are what?”

“Being honest.” Ahri’s tails flick lazily back and forth in the air. “Unlike the time you told me your name was Anna.”

“That’s because it is,” Lux says. It’s not a lie. Not technically, at least. Anna _is_ a part of her name, she just doesn’t normally go by it.

“No it’s not,” says Ahri, without hesitation. “You’re back to lying again.”

“How do you know?” Lux challenges, as she gets back up to her feet. 

Ahri points to her ears. “Your heartbeat speeds up when you lie. Unlike you, my ears don’t lie to my face.”

_Busted._

“Fine.” Lux can feel her face burning. “You got me. My name isn’t really Anna.”

“And there’s the honest answer.” Ahri grins. “That wasn’t so hard, now was it?”

“I’m still not telling you what it really is, though.” Lux crosses her arms.

“That’s fine,” says Ahri, shrugging. “You will eventually.”

Lux raises her eyebrows. “You seem awfully sure about that.” 

“I can be _very_ persuasive.” Ahri winks before picking up the boar again just as easily as she had the first time around. “Now c’mon, _Anna_ , we need to keep moving.”

Ahri takes off, and Lux runs after her.

* * *

Ahri stops once they reach a small clearing by the bottom of a cliff face.

She lets out a long sigh. “Finally, that took forever. You’re so slow, I thought we’d never get here.”

Lux glances around and frowns. “This is it?” 

“Yup,” Ahri confirms.

“This doesn’t look any different than the rest of the forest.”

“Of course it doesn’t.” Ahri turns and gives Lux an amused smile. “A secret lair wouldn’t be much of a secret if everyone could see it, now would it?”

“Well no, but—”

“No buts. I’m right and you know it.” Ahri shifts the boar so that she’s holding it in one hand, and walks towards the cliff face. She waves over her shoulder to follow. “Come along now.”

And then Ahri does something that—even given everything that she’s already shown herself to be able to do—Lux finds to be completely unbelievable; she walks _straight through the cliff._

Lux slowly approaches the cliff, hesitantly raising a hand and ever so slowly bringing it to the stone. She pushes it forward, and watches in awe as her arm slowly disappears into the cliff.

She hears a loud thump. “Are you going to just stand there and gape, or are you going to come in?”

“I’m coming,” Lux snaps, “just... at my own pace.”

“Well then make your pace faster, or you’re going to reveal the place to the entire forest,” Ahri calls back. 

Lux purses her lips, but eventually gets over her hesitation and takes a single step forward. And then another. And another.

She steps into a cavern straight out of a dream, lit up with lanterns and glowing crystals. The beauty is broken up by the bits and bobs scattered everywhere, scraps of cloth, cracked pottery, a splintered bow, and— _is that half of a sword on the wall?_

Ahri is nowhere to be seen, so Lux takes a moment to look around and quickly finds herself drawn to a pile of mismatched armor pieces. Right at the top of it rests a dented Noxian infantry helmet, and Lux’s stomach twists at the sight of it.

Picking it up and turning it in her hands, Lux looks at her reflection in the metal. It’s shiny, well polished, _recent._

“I don’t know much about the rules of human society, but I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to _ask_ before you go touching other people’s things.”

Lux startles, dropping the helmet on the floor and twirling around to find Ahri right in front of her.

“My apologies. I was simply—” She pauses for a moment to find the right words. “—admiring your collection.”

“Ah, not to worry, I understand completely.” Ahri picks the helmet up and gazes at it fondly. “It’s quite hard to resist the allure of such wonderful items, isn’t it?”

“Wonderful isn’t exactly the word I was thinking of,” says Lux, “but yes, they’re all quite something.”

“As much as I’d love to give you a more detailed tour of my collection, that can wait until later.” Ahri places the helmet back at the top of the pile. “We have a boar to prepare.”

“We?” Lux echoes. 

“Of course. My generosity doesn’t come for free, after all.” Ahri smiles wide, showing just a hair too much fang to be entirely friendly. “I said I would share, but I didn’t say it’d be free.”

Lux can’t help but feel like she’s just walked right into the lion’s den.

* * *

“First thing’s first, I need you to go get sticks,” Ahri says, “so you can do that thing.”

Lux furrows her eyebrows. “What thing?”

“Y’know, that _thing_.” Ahri gestures with her hands, and when Lux’s confused look stays, she elaborates. “Where you make fire without magic, using just sticks. That thing.”

Lux pauses. “You mean just making a fire?” 

“No.” Ahri shakes her head. “It’s using the sticks.”

“Yes, that’s how you make a fire,” Lux repeats.

“What do you mean?” Ahri blinks. “That’s definitely not how I make a fire.” 

“I suppose that was a poor choice of words. It’s how _most_ people make a fire, not you specifically.” Lux corrects herself. 

“Oh. I see.” Ahri tilts her head. “You mean you really don’t use mana? At all?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Huh. You’re not even lying this time, so I guess it _is_ true.” Ahri strokes her chin. “I need to see this for myself.”

“So!” Ahri claps her hands together and grins. “While you go out and get the sticks you need to make the fire happen, I’ll gut the boar. That way once you get back, you can teach me how you make fire without mana, and I can give you your cut of the meat. A trade, if you will.”

“And you won’t just make the fire yourself, why, exactly?” Lux asks. “Surely it’d be faster than sending me out to scavenge.”

“Because that’s _boring_ ,” Ahri groans. “And if I did that, then you wouldn’t be able to pay me back for your meal, silly! That wouldn’t be fair, now would it?”

Ahri wags her finger in the air before answering herself.

“No, no it wouldn’t be. So I’m going to go get to work, and you can go out and start yours.”

“Gathering wood won’t be an issue, but how exactly do you expect me to find my way back if I get lost?”

“Oh, I don’t.” Ahri yet again gives Lux that _infuriating_ smile. “But don’t worry, I’ll find you if you call. Just don’t wander too far. You should be able to find everything you need nearby, so just don’t get lost and it won’t be an issue.”

“Just don’t get lost,” Lux repeats, deadpan. “Of course, I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

“Wonderful,” Ahri says, either not realizing or ignoring the fact that Lux was being sarcastic. “I’ll see you when you get back then. Off you go!”

Ahri waves at Lux to get going before disappearing, presumably off to deeper in the cave where she had stashed the boar.

Lux sighs. 

“I suppose I deserve this for following a strange woman I met in the woods,” she mumbles. 

“Hey, I’m not the strange one here, _Anna_. I _do_ have a name, by the way. It’s Ahri, use it,” comes a call back. “Better hurry up, if you don’t get going soon, I’ll be done before you even start.”

Lux freezes. 

_Shit, her hearing’s good. I need to stop forgetting about that._

“Yeah, yeah,” Lux says, turning to leave. “I’m going, don’t you worry.”

* * *

Finding a suitable piece of wood to make a fireboard out of is far harder than Lux had expected. There’s no shortage of branches, but many of them are too thick or too long, not flat enough, or too soft to use.

Once she finally _does_ find a good branch to use for a fireboard, she cuts it down to size with her knife and slowly starts to carve a trough into it. 

She had already previously found a piece to use as a plow, so once the fireboard is suitably prepared, Lux makes her way back. Following Ahri’s advice of _just don’t get lost_ turns out to be surprisingly easy considering Lux didn’t have to go far out in the first place.

By the time Lux returns, Ahri is waiting impatiently by a quickly made firepit and a perfectly-skinned leg of boar. (Where exactly the rest of the meat is, Lux isn’t sure she wants to know.)

“What took you so long?” Ahri asks, inspecting her conspicuously blood-free nails. “There’s literally sticks _everywhere_.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t make fire with just _any_ sticks,” Lux replies, setting down her supplies. “Too thin or too thick, too short or too long, and this won’t work.”

“Oh.” Ahri pouts. “I thought this would be simple.”

“It is, you just have to know what you’re doing.” Lux shakes her head. “The process itself isn’t that hard if your prepwork is correct. It’s just friction.”

“Friction,” Ahri echoes, before pausing and frowning. “You said this doesn’t use mana, though.”

“It doesn’t,” Lux confirms. “Just friction.”

Ahri’s frown deepens. “What kind of spell is friction if it doesn’t use mana?”

“It’s not a spell, it’s a force. No mana required.” 

Ahri still doesn’t look any less confused.

“Let me try a different approach,” Lux says, stretching her arms out in front of her and slowly bringing her hands together. “Put your palms together like this.”

Ahri mimics her actions, putting her palms together in front of her before looking back at Lux. “Like this?”

“Just like that.” Lux nods in approval. “Keeping your palms together, rub your hands up and down really fast like this.” 

Lux starts moving her hands up and down, and she watches as Ahri does the same. 

“Do you feel your hands getting warm where they’re brushing up against each other?”

“Yeah,” Ahri says, “I do.”

Lux stops and lets her hands fall back to her sides. “That’s because of friction. When you rub two things together really hard and really fast, it generates heat.”

“Wait,” Ahri pauses for a moment to process. “Then why do you even need the sticks? Can’t you just do this?” 

Before Lux can answer, Ahri speeds her hand-rubbing up to near-imperceptible levels. After her hands briefly engulf in flames, Ahri stops and looks up with a smile, excited at her new discovery. 

“Surely that’d save you a lot of time, no?”

“Uh...” Lux briefly finds herself at a loss for words. “Yes, that would save a decent bit of time, but for _several_ reasons, that isn’t an option for most people, me included.”

“Oh.” Ahri’s excitement falters. “Then how do _you_ do it?”

“There’s many possible ways to make a fire, but the one I personally prefer is called the fire plow.” Lux picks up the fireboard and plow with a smile. “It’s what I’ll be showing you today.”

Ahri’s eyes eagerly follow Lux’s every move.

* * *

It takes a few tries to get the fire going, as Ahri _insists_ she has to be the one to make it. A few holes are quickly burned through the fireboard when Ahri scrapes it too fast, but in the end the fire gets lit and that’s what matters.

They wait for the boar to cook slowly. Even with a tall-burning fire, the leg is a sizable cut of meat and it doesn’t cook all that fast.

Lux is personally fine with sitting and watching the fire in silence, but Ahri apparently has other ideas as to how to pass the time.

“So…” Ahri starts, crossing her legs and propping her head up on an elbow, “what brings you all the way out here, anyways?”

“What do you mean?”

“As I said earlier, you’re _clearly_ not from around here,” Ahri clarifies, using her free hand to gesture Lux’s way. “Most of the locals know to stay away from this stretch of the woods. It’s not unusual for people to go missing.”

“Ah,” Lux says, frowning. “I’m afraid I wasn’t informed about that.”

“Doesn’t surprise me. People around here don’t take too kindly to outsiders.” Ahri’s expression turns sour for a moment before she turns her attention back towards Lux. 

“I’m aware,” Lux replies.

She knows damn well that she’d been getting _way_ overcharged for her brief stays at local inns, but she was in no place to argue. It was far better to overpay than to attract any more undue attention. 

“If you knew, then why are you here?” Ahri asks, cutting off Lux’s train of thought. 

“Why are _you_?” Lux counters.

“Wandered until I ended up here.” Ahri sits up and shrugs. “Never really known much of anything else though, so it’s not that unusual for me. You, though, _you_ don’t belong here.”

“You’re right. I don’t,” Lux agrees. “But I don’t belong much of anywhere else either, so I suppose here’s as good of a place as any.”

“How come?” Ahri gives her a curious glance. “Can’t you just go home?”

“No.” Lux shakes her head. “People weren’t nearly as fond of me once they found out about my little _party trick_.” 

She spares a brief glance down at her hands, and— _yup, they’re glowing again._ She sighs.

“I can get why they’d be embarrassed, your magic is amateur at best.” Ahri thoughtfully gives Lux a once-over and frowns. “Your mana control is atrocious, but that’s easily fixable with practice and a good teacher. And even with those issues, you’ve clearly got a knack for magic, so it shouldn’t take you _too_ long to fix.”

“I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood the problem,” Lux says, letting out a bitter chuckle. “The issue isn’t that I’m _bad_ at magic, Ahri, It’s that I can use it _at all._ ”

Ahri furrows her eyebrows. “Why is that an issue? Magic is a gift.”

“Not if you’re Demacian,” Lux counters. 

“And I’m assuming you are? Demacian, I mean.” 

There’s a brief pause before Lux answers.

“I was. Not anymore.”

“Why not?” Ahri asks, tilting her head. 

“There is no place for mages in Demacia but the dungeons,” Lux answers, echoing the words she’d heard so many times. “My mere existence there is a crime.”

“Oh.” Ahri gives Lux a pitying look. “So you’ve really got nowhere to go then, huh?”

“No.”

“Well, that certainly explains how you ended up all the way out here.”

Lux doesn’t dignify that with a response. 

* * *

The whole cavern starts to smell appetizing after an hour or two, and even if Lux wasn’t hungry before, she certainly is by the time she gets to dig in.

The boar meat is plain. There’s no spices, no fancy oils, and no special additions but for the taste of woodsmoke from the fire. Somehow, it’s still the best meal Lux has had in a while. 

Similar to the way that Ahri seems to do most everything, she eats _fast._ As Lux slowly makes her way through her portion, she can only watch as Ahri tears through a serving of meat big enough to feed three men Garen’s size at breakneck speed. 

Lux is about halfway done with her meal when Ahri finishes eating with a loud, satisfied sigh.

“Man,” she says, “that _totally_ hit the spot.”

Ahri stretches her arms behind her head.

“Y’know,” she starts, “I could teach you, if you wanted.”

Lux pauses. “I’m sorry?”

“Magic,” Ahri clarifies. “I didn’t really have a teacher myself, but I’ve had a _long_ time to figure things out. And not to brag or anything, but I’m pretty good at it.”

“I’m interested, but what’s the catch?” Lux narrows her eyes. She’s been around long enough to know that if something seems too good to be true, it usually is.

“No catch.” Ahri grins. “But I would want some stuff in return.”

Lux raises her eyebrows. “Like what?” 

“Knowledge.” 

Before Lux can inquire as to what exactly Ahri means by that, Ahri gets up and dashes off somewhere, before flashing back with an armful of tattered scrolls and books. 

“Can you read these?”

Ahri shoves a scroll in Lux’s direction impatiently.

Lux sets the rest of her food aside, taking the offered scroll and gently opening it. It’s stained and torn around the edges, but Lux can still make out the familiar symbols that make up Common.

“This particular scroll is in Common, so yes, I can read it.” Lux says, glancing up. “I don’t know about the rest, but if they’re in Common, Ionian Standard, or Frelian, I can read them. I’d have to see them all for myself before I can say for sure, though, and I’m not nearly as fluent in Ionian and Frelian as I am Common.”

Ahri sets the scrolls and tomes in her arms down in a messy pile before coming to look over Lux’s shoulder.

“Teach me,” she says. “To read.”

Lux raises her eyebrows. “In Common? Or one of the others?”

“All of them,” Ahri answers. “As many as you know.”

“That…” Lux hesitates, looking up over her shoulder at Ahri. “That’s going to take a while, you’re aware of this, right?”

“So will magic,” Ahri replies with a shrug as she goes to return to her seat. “It’ll be a fair trade.”

“I…” Lux struggles to find the words to respond. She’d always dreamed of being able to learn how to control her _gift_ , but never quite like this. “Why?”

“You have something I want. I have something you want. The only logical conclusion is to make a deal,” Ahri says, as if it’s obvious. She pauses, before turning and giving Lux an innocent smile. “That is, unless you have somewhere you need to be?”

Lux knows that Ahri is _well_ aware that isn’t the case.

“I… no. I have time.” 

“Wonderful. It’s settled then,” Ahri says. She claps her hands excitedly, before pausing and raising a finger in the air. “I do have one _teensy-weensy_ little condition to add to our little deal, though.” 

“And that is?”

“I want your name. Your _real_ name,” Ahri says, smiling. “I think I’ve earned at least that much for my hospitality.”

There’s a brief moment of silence before Lux responds. 

“It’s Luxanna,” she finally admits, “but I much prefer just Lux.” 

Ahri’s smile widens.

“Well then, since you’re not lying this time, I believe we have a deal, _Lux_.” Ahri’s lips wrap around the word carefully, as if testing it out. 

“Yes, I believe we do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started playing League over quarantine and fell in love with both Lux and Ahri. Naturally, as one does in such a situation, I had to make them interact. And then it morphed into me just wanting them to hold hands a little bit. I'm out here feeding myself. This has been sitting in my backlog for a while, and I am SO glad to finally have a few mins to sit down and edit this.


	2. Chapter 2

Lux dreams of marble and petricite, of dark halls and shackles and screams.

A glance to her left and shadowed eyes peer back from behind golden half-masks, faces hidden by the shadows of the dimly-lit corridor. A glance to her right and frail arms reach through metal bars, bloody hands grasping around her arm and tugging.

“You abandoned us,” comes a call. “You promised to help us, but you left us here to die.”

“Coward,” hisses another, “I should have known someone from a family like yours couldn’t be trusted. Mage or not, the only people nobility ever look out for is themselves.”

A metal glove wraps around her other arm.

“You deceived us, Crownguard.” The iron grip around her wrist tightens. “Come and face the justice you deserve, traitor.”

More and more hands grasp at her sleeves.

“Help us!”

“Impostor.”

“You left us.”

They keep on tugging and tugging, left and right and up and down and—

Lux’s hands clench around soft furs as her eyes shoot open, breathing heavy and heartbeat racing in her ears.

_It’s only a nightmare._

In.

Out.

_They're not real._

In.

Out.

_You’re safe._

In.

Out.

_You’re safe._

She repeats the words over and over again in her head. 

_Safe. You’re safe._

Even all the way out here in the forest, Luxanna Crownguard is still a wanted woman living on borrowed time. Whether it be for the gold, the glory, or simply out of good old-fashioned Demacian duty, someone will always be looking. 

In.

Out.

_You’re safe._

Tonight, though, she is hidden. There are no guardsmen lurking in the shadows, no screams but for the wind against the cave’s mouth, no arms around her but her own, hugging tight to her chest for some semblance of reassurance. 

No place is safe forever, but for now the statement she repeats to herself like a lifeline is true.

_You’re safe._

In.

Out.

She lets the soft glow of the crystals slowly lull her back to sleep.

* * *

Ahri knows that humans are trouble. She knows it just as certainly as the sun rises in the east every morning and sets in the west every night—yet even still, she can’t seem to curb her curiosity. 

With every taste, every _scrap_ of memory she gets her hands on, Ahri finds herself wanting more, even though she knows full well that the game she plays is foolish. 

No matter how many armor pieces she hoards, no matter how many gizmos and thingamabobs and whatzits she piles up in her collection, she is not human, and she never will be.

In a way, Ahri is glad for it. People are capable of great evil. They’re greedy, they’re always fighting over borders that only exist on paper, they’re frail, and they die quickly. Ahri finds herself fascinated nonetheless.

A loving mother’s embrace, a gathering of friends around a blazing hearth, a festival with lights and sounds and smells unlike anything she could ever imagine—they are memories that Ahri has, but has never lived, and _oh_ , does she want to. She longs for it, craves for it, dreams about it, imagines herself taking part as she watches people go about their days from just far enough behind the treeline to be hidden.

No matter how much she craves to experience these things herself, Ahri knows deep down that she never will. These are human experiences. Ahri is many things—a god to some, a monster to others, and a myth to many—but not human. She will never experience such things firsthand. 

Perhaps it’s why she had jumped at the chance to learn secondhand instead, bringing Lux—and her knowledge—home with just as much care as she would a priceless shiny new trinket to add to her collection.

Perhaps it’s her own desire for knowledge, or having the opportunity to translate the hoard of written information already in her hands, yet still so far out of her reach.

Perhaps it’s why she found herself offering to help, seeing so much of herself in someone who is everything she had always wanted to be. Lux is human—she knows the ins and outs of human culture and its intricacies—and yet she’s just as much of an outsider as Ahri is.

Ahri glances up from the fire when she hears a small gasp from one of the many caverns deeper in the cave. She can faintly make out a rushing heartbeat, and fear tinges the air.

Her guest must have had a nightmare.

Ahri sighs.

 _Perhaps people like us are better off out here_ , she thinks, _but I would not know._ _I am not a person._

Ahri’s ears twitch as she hears another hitch of breath.

The taste of the boar’s life essence lingers on her lips, energy buzzing deep in her soul. It’s something, yes, but it won’t be enough. She’ll be hungry again soon.

Ahri’s tails flick as she gets up, and she glances over her shoulder. The heartbeat she can hear in the distance slows.

It’s best to get things over with before morning comes. Wouldn’t want to spook her guest before she can get anything out of their little deal, after all. If she’s lucky, she may even find a new item to add to her collection.

* * *

Learning magic, as it turns out, is nowhere near as straightforward as Lux had thought it would be. She figures that teaching it must be the same, given the fact that Ahri doesn’t seem to know where to start. 

“First thing’s first, I think those gloves of yours might have to go.” Ahri pauses and brings a hand up to scratch at her chin as she thinks. “Actually—no, now that I think about it, they _definitely_ do.” Another pause. “Maybe.”

Lux hesitates. “So am I taking them off, then, or…?”

“Yes, definitely.” Ahri waves her hand with a nod. “The sooner the better, actually. They’ll mess things up.” She stops for a moment. “I think, anyways.”

“You think?” Lux raises an eyebrow as she slips her gloves off. “I thought you said you knew what you were doing?”

“Of course I know what I’m doing. I’m not some _amateur_.” Ahri gives Lux a pointed look.

“Ah. My bad,” Lux replies, with an overly-innocent smile. “You simply seemed a bit indecisive, so I was just making sure.”

“Uh-huh.” 

Ahri huffs, before taking a seat on the ground and motioning for Lux to follow. Lux sits down, crossing her legs and placing her hands on her knees. Ahri lifts a hand and rests her head on an elbow. 

Lux waits for Ahri to start, but she doesn’t. She simply sits there and watches. It’s a bit unnerving, actually, the way it feels as if she knows something about Lux that she herself does not. It doesn’t take long for Lux to get tired of the uncomfortable silence.

“So…” she says, “where do we start?”

Ahri lifts her head up off of her hand and shrugs. “You tell me.”

Lux furrows her eyebrows. “What do you mean, _you tell me_?”

“I mean _you tell me_ ,” Ahri repeats. “Magic is kinda… what’s the word for it—a personal thing? It’s different for everyone, so while I can give you some general tips and tricks and stuff, learning it is mostly going to be up to you.”

Lux takes a moment to process Ahri’s words before her fingers clench into her palms.

“So you offered to teach me magic, only to tell me _after_ I agree that it’s highly individualized and I’ll have to teach myself.” Lux lets out a disbelieving laugh. “Wonderful. Thank you, that’s incredibly helpful, Ahri.”

“Don’t put words in my mouth. I never said you’d have to teach yourself.” Ahri frowns and shakes her head disapprovingly. “While learning it _is_ going to be up to you, I’d be a poor teacher if I just left you to try to figure it all out on your own. I’ll be here to guide you the whole time, don’t you worry.” 

The tension in Lux’s shoulders vanishes and her fists loosen slightly.

“Oh.” 

Ahri’s lips draw into a coy smile. “What, you didn’t seriously think I was just going to leave you high and dry, did you?”

Lux purses her lips, but doesn’t respond. Ahri takes Lux’s silence for the answer that it is.

“I appreciate the fact you’re not stupid enough to blindly trust every word I say, but I’d have to be a fool to do that,” Ahri says, amused. “You wouldn’t hold your end of the deal if I didn’t hold mine.”

Now that Ahri points it out, it seems so obvious.

“I suppose that’s true,” Lux admits. “My apologies for doubting you.”

“You’re forgiven,” Ahri says, waving it off nonchalantly, before pausing and turning back towards Lux with a small, wry grin. “Your mana control, however, is not. Have you ever tried meditating before?”

“No.”

Ahri’s grin turns positively wolfish.

“Well then, I hope you like it—and self discovery— because we’re going to be doing it a lot, and we’re going to keep on going until the only time those pretty little hands of yours start glowing is when you _want_ them to.”

* * *

Ahri is a strict taskmaster, and even though she pushes Lux to her absolute limit at what feels like every turn, at no point can it be said that she is cruel. Clawed hands gently correct her form when Lux accidentally leans a bit too far forward, and the scolding that always follows is chiding and stern, but not mean. 

When it comes to magic, Ahri is—in every way, shape and form—in her element. She lives it, breathes it, weaves her way through spells and energy and flames almost as easily as breathing.

Lux cannot say the same for herself, unfortunately. She stumbles through basic exercises like a baby learning to walk—trying, failing, and getting back up only to try and fail again. Every time Lux gets so frustrated she almost wants to quit, Ahri is always waiting with a smile and a command: _meditate._

It seems simple enough, but for Lux, it really isn’t. It’s precisely the reason Ahri forces her to do it again and again and again.

“Just sit down and clear your mind for a little while,” Ahri says. “Magic comes from the soul, from the earth, from the air, it’s everywhere, you just have to feel it—and you can’t do that with racing thoughts.”

It’s strange to think about, really, an omnipresent energy that is seemingly everywhere yet nowhere, always around, but indistinguishable from everything else unless you know what it feels like—and at first, Lux doesn’t.

Magic has always been a part of her life. From the moment she had her first slip-up as a child, her parents had made it _very_ clear that she was different. Her parents knew it, _she_ knew it, and they had made it explicitly clear why she needed to pretend to be normal so nobody else would.

At the time, Lux hadn’t thought much of it. She didn’t worry about how or why her hands would glow, they just _did_. So she learned how to hide it. Thick gloves and petricite beaded jewelry were quickly added to her wardrobe and that was that. 

Magic was something Lux had never needed, had never wanted, but it was always there. Now, when she actually _does_ want to do something with it _,_ it doesn’t answer her call. 

Ahri’s voice snaps Lux back to attention.

“You’re thinking too much again,” she says. “Stop it.”

Lux opens her eyes, glancing up to find Ahri standing right behind her. She raises an eyebrow. “It’s not exactly easy for me to just _stop thinking_ , you know.”

“I’m aware.” The edges of Ahri’s lips draw upward ever so slightly. “You’ve been struggling with it the whole time we’ve been working on it. You’ve always got your head too deep in your worries instead of your mana.”

Lux closes her eyes again and sighs. “And how exactly am I supposed to find the mana to stick my head in, if I don’t even know what it feels like?”

“Oh. Right.” Lux hears Ahri take a deep breath. “I honestly forgot about that part. Maybe if you feel mine, it’ll help a bit? It won’t feel exactly the same as yours, of course, but the general idea should be the same.”

“And you didn’t have this idea before, why?” Leaves crunch, and Lux cracks her eyes open slightly as Ahri takes a seat in front of her.

“Not important.” Ahri shakes her head. “Let me see your hands.”

Before Lux can even react, one of Ahri’s hands works its way around her own, moving it—and then her other hand as well—gently out in front of her, prying her fingers away from her palms until they lay open and waiting.

A small ball of energy swirls to life in Ahri’s free hand, and she tosses it up and down a few times before looking over with a smile.

“Hold this,” she says.

Lux wants to protest, but Ahri moves too fast, and before she knows it, a small, spinning ball of energy sits in her hands.

Lux doesn’t quite have the words to describe the feeling at first. It’s warm, like a campfire in her hands—hot enough to feel it, but not enough to burn. The ball buzzes and it almost feels to Lux as if it will simply jump out of her hands if given the chance. It’s flighty, nervous even, curious and constantly moving.

It’s a direct contrast to everything she’d always been told. Magic was supposed to be something to fear, a weapon used by horrible people for nefarious things. The orb that rests in her hands feels anything but.

Lux watches closely as it slowly grows smaller and smaller. Eventually, it fizzles out. 

“Well? What did it feel like?”

She meets Ahri’s eyes as she looks up, and Lux finds herself at a loss for an answer.

“It was nice,” she eventually settles with, looking down at her now empty hands. “Warm.”

Lux isn’t sure what kind of answer Ahri is looking for, but she figures she must be on the right track when she briefly looks up and Ahri gives her a nod in response.

“When you cast a spell, it’s a little bit like putting a bit of yourself out there for the whole world to see. It’s about _feeling_ as much as it is _doing._ ” Ahri’s gaze is unwavering, searching. “When your hands start to glow, how do you feel?”

_Annoyed. Embarrassed. Scared. Disgusted._

“I don’t know.” 

Ahri purses her lips, but doesn’t call Lux out on her lie. “And how did you feel when you stopped that boar from running you through?”

Lux wants to look down, but she finds herself trapped by Ahri’s gaze.

“I was scared,” she admits. “It startled me, and I knew if I didn’t do something I would die.”

Ahri keeps on pushing. “And when you shoved the knife into its skull?” 

“Dangerous.” Lux pauses for a moment before clarifying. “I felt... powerful. Strong.”

Ahri smiles. 

“And there it is. We now have a place to start.”

* * *

It’s honestly incredible how fast things start going after that.

Lux has always been a quick learner, and even more so when she has a solid foundation to build off of. Once she gets the feeling part of things down, the thinking part comes naturally. Even Ahri seems to be impressed—and that’s saying something, considering how nitpicky she can be sometimes.

Lux figures it’s more than time for her to start doing her part, but Ahri apparently has other plans. It’s odd, actually—for how much Ahri brings up Lux keeping her side of the deal, she’s awfully avoidant most times Lux offers to start working on it. 

It’s not like Lux hasn’t offered. She has, and almost every time she does, she’s met with an excuse. There’s a few times that Ahri goes along with it, but the general norm as of late seems to be avoidance. It’s a pattern that doesn’t look as if it’s going to be changing anytime soon, but that doesn’t stop Lux from trying. 

Tonight is no different. After she finishes her dinner, she tries again. 

“I know you said you were feeling tired yesterday,” Lux starts, and Ahri glances up. “Is tonight a better night to work on some more sight words?”

“Mmm…” Ahri pauses eating for a moment, and her tails swish back and forth in the air as she thinks. “Still tired today. Working with you is kinda exhausting, y’know.”

The small smile that follows the words clearly tells Lux that Ahri is less tired than she claims. 

“My apologies for that,” Lux replies, and her tone makes it clear that she’s not sorry at all. “Perhaps tomorrow, then?”

Ahri finishes her last bite of meat and shrugs. “Maybe. We’ll see.”

Lux gives her a knowing look. “You do realize that if we never work on this, you’ll never be able to read on your own, right? It’s not something we’ll be able to finish in a day.”

“I’m aware, but we have time.” Ahri daintily cleans her fingers. “For tonight, I’m tired, and I have you right here to do it for me.” 

“For tonight, yes, that is true.” Lux shakes her head. “But it won’t always be. Our deal will finish, and we’ll both go our separate ways.”

“It’s not ending now,” Ahri points out. “You can still read things to me tonight.” It is clear from the way she looks over that it is just as much a question as it is a statement.

Lux sighs, before she relents. “For tonight, I can still read things to you.”

“Great!” Ahri instantly perks up, exhaustion seemingly forgotten. “Maybe we can even read two scrolls today?”

“That all depends on what you bring me,” Lux says. “I’m tired tonight as well, so I don’t want to stay up too late.”

“That’s not a no,” Ahri points out.

“No,” Lux agrees. “It’s not.”

* * *

Ahri leaves at night sometimes. Lux is hesitant to call it sneaking out, (it _is_ Ahri’s house after all, and who is she to tell her when she can come and go?) but it’s definitely suspicious behavior no matter what name she calls it by.

Ahri’s careful to make sure Lux doesn’t know about it. In fact, the only reason she even _does_ is due to sheer dumb luck, waking at just the right time to see Ahri coming home bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, as if she hadn’t just been out on an excursion in the dead of night. 

Neither mentions it the following morning. Not that Lux doesn’t _want_ to, but they have a good thing going, and pushing Ahri too much could very well send it all crashing down near-instantly. She doesn’t want to risk it.

It’s crystal clear that wherever Ahri goes at night, she doesn’t want Lux to know. Lux should be okay with this. Ahri has a right to her secrets, and lord knows Lux herself has plenty of things she doesn’t tell anyone. Ahri is dangerous, but trustworthy. She hasn’t done anything to prove herself to be otherwise. 

_You had thought the same about Sylas,_ a little voice in the back of her head coos, _and look at where that got you. Living in the woods like a hermit with a woman you barely know. Surely you’re smarter than that this time around?_

Lux shoves the thought away in favor of focusing on magic and spellcraft, of reading scrolls late at night over the campfire, of pretending everything is fine. With every day that passes, that tiny voice in her head grows a little larger and harder to ignore. 

And so does Ahri’s junk collection. Lux had never asked where any of it came from. She had always assumed much of it was likely found or picked up, broken shards and bits and bobs nobody really wanted anyways. Some of the items, though, clearly weren’t parted with willingly.

Lux’s stomach twists every time she sees that dented piece of dark steel sitting on the top of one of the many piles of armor. To a Noxian, weapons and armor are as much a part of them as their blood or their bones. To be unarmed is to be weak, and to be weak is to either be dead or as good as. A helm like that would have _never_ been given up willingly.

Ahri’s warning from the day they met echoes in her head.

_“Most of the locals know to stay away from this stretch of the woods. It’s not unusual for people to go missing.”_

The evidence is there. It has been since day one. It grows even more damning with every passing day, and yet even still, Lux finds herself reluctant to believe it. Ahri is dangerous, yes, but evil? A monster? A murderer? No. 

Monsters do not react to learning new things with childish glee, do not gently correct others’ mistakes and help them learn, do not tease and play. Evil people do not act like Ahri does.

If Lux were telling the truth, the line between evil and good has become quite blurred lately. She doesn’t know where she falls along the spectrum—she doesn’t personally see herself as a bad person, but plenty of other people do (and that much is made obvious by the price tag for her capture). The difference between being good or bad is all a matter of perspective.

Ahri must have a good reason for doing what she does. She’s a logical person, she’s not cruel, she has to have a good reason for it.

She _has_ to—because Lux doesn’t know what she’ll do if she’s wrong in her judgement again, and she really doesn’t want to.

* * *

Lux is—Ahri finds—a lot like a cat, curious and excitable, but always on edge. It only takes the slightest of sounds or unexpected movements for Lux to tense up, eyes large and evaluating whether to run or fight.

Ahri learns to adjust. She makes sure her footsteps are loud enough for Lux to hear her coming, and takes care to move slowly enough that her eyes can follow. Overall, Ahri feels like she’s done a pretty good job at making sure not to overstep any boundaries. (Well— aside from sneaking out at night, but she doesn’t really have a choice in that.)

Unfortunately, though, there’s some things you just don’t know will cause trouble in advance. Ahri finds out the hard way that her habit of taking home anything that catches her fancy can and will cause problems, and it only takes Lux one look at the shiny golden half-mask in Ahri’s hands for her to _freak out._

Lux’s shoulders raise and her hands clench into fists. “Would you mind explaining _where_ , exactly, you got that mask?”

Ahri sets the mask on her lap, raising her hands in the air placatingly. While honesty usually is the best policy, in some cases, bending the truth just a tad is far more advantageous. _I killed the guy who wore it a little while ago and ate his soul_ simply won’t be an acceptable answer, in this case.

Ahri shrugs. “I found it. Someone must have accidentally left it at their campsite.”

“ _Bullshit_ ,” Lux hisses, and Ahri backpedals a little bit at the venom in her tone. “You don’t just _find_ a Mageseeker’s mask.”

Lux reaches a glowing hand to grab at a knife on her hip. She does not draw it, but her grasp remains firm around the handle.

“Try again. _Where did you get that mask?_ ”

Lux’s gaze cuts deep, and for the first time in a long time, Ahri panics. She doesn’t know what to say, but she _cannot_ tell the truth. Not this time—not to this question. 

“Was this your plan all along?” Lux lets out a bitter chuckle. “To play host until you can turn me over to the highest bidder?”

“Of course not. I could care less about money.” 

Lux’s grip around the knife tightens, turning white-knuckled. “Then explain to me why you tried to hide your little excursions out at night.”

Ahri’s mouth goes dry, and her jaw clenches. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you the truth.”

“Try me,” Lux replies, raising an eyebrow.

Ahri takes a deep breath. _Well, it’s now or never._

“I eat souls. I have to or I die.”

Lux pauses, anger giving way to confusion for a brief moment before she furrows her brow again. “You… _eat souls._ ” 

Ahri nods. “That’s correct.” 

Lux’s grip on the knife loosens slightly. “Then you got got that mask by…?” Lux doesn’t finish the question, but what she wants to know is extremely clear.

“Yup,” Ahri confirms. “I wasn’t lying when I said that most people who come this far into the woods don’t come back.”

Usually this is the part where people start running. Lux doesn’t. If anything, she looks more at ease than before. She lets her hand slowly drop from the knife and takes a deep breath. 

“The person you took the mask from…” Lux starts, “Were they alone?”

“Yes.” Ahri frowns. She had expected more of a reaction to the whole admission of— _y’know, killing people_ , not to be interrogated for details on her latest victim. “Why?”

Lux curses under her breath. “Mageseekers always travel in pairs. Their partner has likely noticed their absence by now.”

Ahri tilts her head. “Then I’ll deal with them when they come looking.”

Lux shakes her head. “You misunderstand. When they come looking, they’ll bring backup.”

“And? I’ll deal with them too.”

“It’s not that easy.” Lux lets out a bitter chuckle. “Tell me, Ahri, have you ever fought someone armed with petricite?”

“Petricite?”

“I’ll take that as a no.” The smile Lux gives her in return is nervous and hollow. “Let’s hope it stays that way. You don’t want to.”

* * *

Lux starts packing her things soon after.

Ahri honestly isn’t sure what to do about it. Deep down, she had always known this day would come, but she hadn’t thought it’d be so soon. She’d thought she had more time. 

Lux glances up at her from where she kneels and shoves some of her notes in her rucksack.

“I am sorry that I never was able to hold up my end of the deal,” she says. “I never intended to leave before I held my word.”

“Don’t be.” Ahri shakes her head. “It’s partially my fault. I was stalling.”

Lux raises an eyebrow. “How come?” 

Ahri hesitates.

“I wanted more time before this day would come,” she admits. “You started to learn so fast, and I’ve…” Ahri pauses to find the right words. “It’s been nice, having someone else around.”

“If it makes you feel better,” Lux says, with a small, bittersweet smile, “I would have loved to stay longer.”

She sighs. “Unfortunately, it’s safer for the both of us if I leave.”

“I still don’t get why you have to go.” Ahri frowns, and her ears flatten down towards her head. “I’m very good at taking care of unwanted visitors.”

“I’m aware.” Lux closes the flap on the opening of her bag and slides the latch closed. “But I’m afraid they can be rather persistent. Alone, you can probably handle them just fine, but in big enough numbers, even _you_ will be overwhelmed.”

“You don’t know that.”

Lux simply gives Ahri a look that clearly says that’s wishful thinking.

Ahri pouts, before visibly perking up when she gets an idea. “If you won’t stay, then _I_ could come with you.”

Lux cuts her off. “No.” 

Ahri raises an eyebrow. “Who said I was asking?”

“You can’t come with me, Ahri.” Lux shakes her head.

“And you can’t stop me, Lux.” Ahri smiles, raising a finger in the air and wagging it. “You never kept your end of the deal, after all. I can’t continue learning if you’re gone.”

“And whose fault is that?” Lux turns towards Ahri with mock offense, but Ahri simply shrugs. “You just told me you didn’t mind that I didn’t hold my end of the deal.”

“I said _don’t be sorry,_ not that I didn’t mind,” Ahri corrects. “I’m coming with you.”

“You realize you’d have to leave your collection behind?”

Ahri pauses. “Yes.”

Lux pushes further. “And your home?” 

“This isn’t my home.” Ahri glances around before turning back to Lux, determined. “It’s a place to stay, but not a home. I don’t have a home.” 

_But my time with you is the closest I’ve had to one in a long time._

“It’s not safe,” Lux counters.

“And? Safety is boring.” Ahri raises an eyebrow, not backing down. “Your point?”

Lux tests the weight of her bag, before picking it up and slinging it over her shoulder.

“If you truly insist on coming, I can’t stop you,” she admits. “But you would be a fool to do so.”

Ahri smiles. “I’ve never been known for making smart decisions.”

Ahri is fine to be a fool, and although she wishes she could bring her stuff with her, she can afford to give up all her trinkets. Knickknacks and gizmos and doohickeys are all easily replaceable, but good company is not quite as easy to find.

Lux turns to leave, and Ahri quickly runs back to grab something before she moves to follow behind.

“So…” Ahri asks, fingers running over the edges of twin sunstones, “where to?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is your daily reminder that Ahri kills people. Idk if it's obvious how many shitty romcoms I used to watch but don't look at me I'm indulging myself. League brainrot is a disease and I'm afraid my case has hit terminal velocity. I really wanted to get this out sooner but September was just... yikes. So far October has been less busy, so fingers crossed for more writing time.

**Author's Note:**

> For snippets, updates on what I'm working on, and a shit ton of art retweets, feel free to check out my [twitter](https://twitter.com/UmbreonGurl)


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